The story of the real Lolita and her connection to the novel by Vladimir Nabokov

70 years ago, one of the Newspapers of Philadelphia shortly before Christmas published an article called "the Christmas tree shines: a single mother waiting for her child". She deeply touched by American Housewives. The story of the widow Ella Horner, an 11-year-old girl who was abducted by a stranger, was mysterious and even sometimes it seemed implausible.

The girl's mother Sally, we can say she gave her child to a stranger. The man forced the girl to tell her mother that he is the father of her school friends, so she let her to go with him to rest on the coast. Strangely nonchalant attitude of the mother to the fate of her child led to the fact that Sally was in the grip of a 50-year-old Frank La Salle, a mechanic, who already had convictions for rape and pedophilia.

For two years, from 1948 to 1950 a pedophile and his victim were inseparable. Frank will not let go of Sally from myself and constantly raped. In order not to attract attention, the offender forced the girl to call his father and the people to portray a child love and respect. The kidnapper and his victim moved on the car on different States, staying in motels and anywhere for a long time without stopping.

An interesting coincidence was that it was at this time Professor at Cornell University, Vladimir Nabokov set out to explore in his new novel, the issue of relationship between an adult male and a child. A novel about lolita and Humbert, a relationship, condemned in society, became one of the most controversial works of the twentieth century. No need to carry out an accurate analysis of the novel to see a lot of coincidences between his story and the story of La Salle and his victim.

The kidnapping of Sally Frank carefully prepared. Approximately six months before the abduction, in the supermarket Woolworth's, the girl was caught in the act stealing a notebook of a middle-aged representative man. The stranger was presented by the FBI and told Sally that she will be arrested and convicted of theft.

The girl began to cry and beg the man to let her go, and La Salle generously agreed, taking a promise to meet with him and report suspicious and unusual things. Sally Horner as fire fearing the wrath of the mother, immediately agreed and was released home.

A few months later, Frank began to insist that the girl went with him to Atlantic city. Together with the girl, the offender made up the story about the vacation with his family, classmates from the ocean, and the woman lightly agreed to send the child to the resort.

To justify Ella Horner can only say that she raised a daughter on her own after her husband committed suicide, a lot of hard work, and the idea that someone, some time will take care of her child, which she found very attractive. The woman even took Sally to the bus station, where a glimpse in the window of the bus, she was able to see La Salle.

Relationship La Salle and the girls were unusual not only for its criminal nature. Seemed strange things. Despite its status as a captive, Sally Horner behaved quite naturally and in the community, actively portrayed as a loving daughter. Moreover, when the pair stayed in Baltimore, Frank got a job, and the girl began to go to school.

Every day, Sally meekly returned home, although he could at any moment to stop, simply contact any police officer on the street or making a phone call. Obviously, the fear of the child before the kidnapper took all her will and forced to accept the situation of the victim.

La Salle, in turn, was as careful as possible. As soon as the man began to seem to him showing interest in the strangers, he immediately changed his place of residence, sometimes moving hundreds of miles. Last year, Frank and Sally held in a trailer Park full of visitors, and the people knew little about each other. Despite this, one vigilant neighbor alerted the family of 50-year-old man and a teenager, and she was able to talk to Sally from eye to eye.

The girl broke down and told the woman his story and admitted that La Salle make every night in her bedroom. After learning that the child wants to return home, a neighbor provided her the opportunity to call my mother. Several hours later, Frank was arrested and interrogated. The man to the last unlocked and claimed that Sally is actually his daughter, and the abduction and violence — just a fantasy girl.

An article about the arrest of La Salle

In the end, the pedophile was tried and sent to prison for 35 years, and Sally Horner returned home to his mother. At the meeting Sally and Ella was attended by many journalists, but the mother and daughter, separated for two long years, wept in each other's arms, not paying attention to anyone.

Vladimir Nabokov at work

The life of Humbert and Lolita was very similar to the life of La Salle and Sally — in the novel the girl even went to school like a real kidnapping victim. In his book, "the Real Lolita" Sarah Weinman argues that Nabokov must have known about this story, and possibly followed its development, as many residents of the United States. How else to explain the large number of coincidences in the novel and real life?

Interesting, but Nabokov has always rejected any connection of his novel and in real life, although in the novel, there is a link to the event. In one of the chapters Humbert asks commensurate whether what he did with Dolly (one of the nicknames Lolita) that made the mechanic La Salle Sally in 1948.

But back to the heroine of our story. Unfortunately, the story had American happy ending. Sally after the captivity was observed by psychiatrists and, according to others, it is not different from peers. She finished school, but her life was cut short in a car accident on 2 August 1952, after only 2 years after release.

Eighteen months after the girl's death, Nabokov completed his "lolita" and made this entry in his diary. The writer described the novel worked 5 years as "a mysterious and heartbreaking". No publisher, addressed to the author, did not want to publish the book, and only in 1955 she went overseas, in France. In the USA the book was published after three years and became a bestseller.

In the novel, the narrative comes from the name of Humbert, a man miserable and seeking affirmation. So sometimes it seems that the protagonist himself is as much a victim as Lolita. Humbert constantly fluctuating and regrets that gave the little girl to seduce. As he says of himself: "I, on the other hand, was naive, as soon as may be naive man is a pervert".

Sarah Weinman believes that from the moment of publication, the plot of the book was incorrectly interpreted by readers and experts on the art of Vladimir Nabokov.

In this regard, the reporter thinks is a very important parallel between the novel and the real crime of Frank La Salle. According to Sarah that serves as an important reminder that pedophilia is a reality and responsibility will always be an adult, not a child who is inexperienced and not always aware of their actions.